Tuesday, July 27, 2010

During all of the commotion last week with the release of Warhammer Online's 1.3.6 patch notes, another important announcement was made. WAR's forums will soon shut down and then reopen under the BioWare Social Network. What does this mean for WAR?

I was really surprised with this change. My first impression was not the most positive but I think any kind of change is usually met with skepticism initially. Why mess with what works? However, I now see this as a big positive for WAR.

If the decision makers at EA/BioWare didn't have confidence in WAR I think they would distance themselves from it rather than bringing it to the fold. Let's see who else is in the BSN... Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age and now WAR. That is good company to be in.

In addition to exposure, what else might integration with the BioWare Social Network bring to WAR? The network does offer blog services, group tools and some addon functionality similar to Curse. Most intriguing might be the use of BioWare Points. No word on whether or not WAR will take that road.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is still an unknown when it comes to the BSN. They currently use their own forums and I didn't find any confirmation that they will migrate over as well. I think they will, it would seem odd to use it for every one of their major games except TOR. If they do, it will open up some very interesting possibilities, like a package deal perhaps?

For more information about the WAR forums migration, check out this FAQ. The changeover will be happening soon it sounds like, so keep an eye out for instructions.